In a back-closure brassiere, the back of the brassiere structure is conventionally formed by a pair of wings, one of which can be provided with at least one male closure member while the other is provided with at least one female closure member cooperating with the male closure member. The male closure member can be, for example, a metal hook while the female closure member can be an eye.
More recently, it has been proposed to provide closure members which are equivalent to hook and eye fasteners but are fabricated from plastic, e.g. by injection molding the fastener members onto tapes which are stitched or bonded otherwise to the fabric of the wings forming the back of the brassiere. Reference may be had to U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,321,419 and 6,557,232 in that regard. A unique property of the plastic fasteners there described is that they also have a push-button function, i.e. the male member can be snapped into the female member by the application of pressure, in addition to being engageable with it in a sliding hook and eye function.
Generally the fabric wings of a brassiere are somewhat elastic for comfort and for that purpose are composed of elastic fabric. The straps carrying the fastener can be applied by stitching, in which case the wings of the brassiere may have several stitched seams. Stitched seams, however, are not always comfortable and in some cases may prove to be an irritant to the wearer.
Mention should also be made of the fact that any fastener member applied to the fabric of a brassiere wing in the past has projected from the surface of the fabric to an extent that it also could prove to be an annoyance to the wearer.
Finally it should be noted that the wings forming the back of a brassiere frequently are anchor points for shoulder straps of the brassiere. In the past the location of the anchor point for the shoulder strap along the brassiere has not generally been adjustable and it has also not generally been possible to select the manner in which the shoulder strap is secured at the anchor point. In short, the versatility of a brassiere with respect to adjustment of shoulder straps to the wings forming the back of the brassiere has left much to be desired.